DeAndra Davis' inspiration for "All the Noise At Once" came from her experience of being autistic and raising autistic children.
What was your inspiration behind "All The Noise At Once?"
My inspiration was a mix of myself and my children. I took a little bit of my experience being autistic and my experience raising autistic kids to get the story going. My husband also played football, and wanted that for our kids, so I used that experience as well. Lastly, the experiences that I saw autistic people having with law enforcement also informed my want to write this story. I think an amalgamation of circumstances had to come together to create this perfect storm, for sure.
What does Reading Rainbow mean to you?
I think that reading with pride involves access and support. It means having access to the stories that e need most and having the support to continue to see those stories created. It means seeing all marginalized identities represented on the page, both in struggle and joy.
Why do you feel representation of a variety of people is so important when it comes to writing books?
As an author for young people specifically, and as someone who loved reading as a kid, it changes your life to see yourself reflected on the page. Are windows cool? Sure. Seeing into someone’s life can be nice, but seeing yourself? Knowing that YOU matter enough that someone who looks like you, lives like you, talks like you, thinks like you is in a book? Wow. That’s a much different experience than anything else. Books live on, don’t they? They live on, often, in ways that other media tends to fade. They live on in classrooms and libraries. They can be part of curriculum and how life-changing can it be for a kid to see that their identity is important enough to part of a curriculum? To be in a bookstore? To be a bestseller? Even for adults, when we didn’t have that growing up, to get to an age and finally see it. It’s validating. I love to see people who need it feel validated.
Tell us a little more about "All The Noise At Once" and why you decided to write it.
"All the Noise at Once" follows a black, autistic teen who adores his older brother, but some bad choices (not all of them his) land his brother in a place where he’s losing everything he’s worked for. I know that so many might see it immediately and think it’s just an issues book. It does tackle so many difficult subjects, but it isn’t. It’s a family book. It’s a friendship book. A coming-of-age book. I wanted to think about families when I wrote this. I wanted to think about what it means to be autistic in a black body and how the intersections of our identities compound to create scenarios that are specific to only us. And then, when that happens, how the heck do we get out of those situations? Can we? I wrote it to answer the questions I had about the way I was living in the world. I wrote it confront the fears I had about how my black, autistic son would live in the world.
What can fans expect from your book?
They can expect humor! I know it seems a tough topic, but I swear, it’s funny. They can also expect love. They can expect learning a lot about animals that they never knew before (I’ll let y’all figure this one out for yourselves, haha). They can expect tough conversations. They can expect nuance and morally gray characters. They can also expect toilet paper, eggs, and, at times, some football.
What's up next for you in the bookish world?
Well, I have another book coming! My next book is fun and will take out of the country and explore bisexual awakening and tough familial dynamics as they bump up against abandonment and religion. It’s an interesting one that has a lot more romance than I typically write but that was a fun challenge for me! I thought I’d never love another book as much as "All the Noise at Once" but this next book is definitely giving me a run for my money.
Buy the book here.
